28.02.1969. Centenary of Nordic Cooperation. Commemorating the centenary of the first postal Nordic co-operation and the 50th anniversary of the «Norden Association». Five commercial ships (Viking Ships) taken from five different silver coins, dated about the year 825, found at Björkö in Sweden.
This is an interesting set as different engravers did the job for different countries except Finland:
Sweden: H. Gutschmidt, Norway: H. Welde, Denmark: Cz. Slania, Iceland: Cz. Slania, Finland is line-etched photogravure.06.12.1983. The two stamps show the Icelandic president, Kristján Eldjarn (1916-1982), who was a very popular and much respected President of Republic during the period 1968-1980.
The below four maps are some of Czeslaw Slania’s masterpieces. They were all issued for the Nordia-Exhibitions 1984 and 1991. Please note that none of these sheets are listed in Stanley Gibbons Simplified, and therefore the catalogue numbers are given after Scott.
06.06.1984. NORDIA ´84 Stamp Exhibition, Reykjavik. To the left a map of the Nordic countries. The original atlas was drawn by the Dutch geographer and cartographer Abraham Ortelius (1527-1598). The souvenir sheet, containing a stamp of 40 kr., was issued at the occasion of the Stamp Exhibition Nordia ’84.
09.10.1989. Stamp Day 1989, International Stamp Exhibition NORDIA ´91, Reykjavik. To the right a fragment of Carta Marina, published by Olaus Magnus (1490-1557) in 1539, showing the sea between Iceland (upper left corner) and Norway (lower right corner). The souvenir sheet, containing three stamps of each 30 kr., was issued as a contribution to the Stamp Exhibition Nordia ’91.
09.10.1990. Stamp Day 1990, International Stamp Exhibition NORDIA ´91, Reykjavik. To the left a fragment of Carta Marina, published by Olaus Magnus (1490-1559) in 1539, showing the southern Nordic countries, Denmark, Sweden, Aland Islands, and Gotland. The sheet contains three stamps of each 40 kr., and was issued as a contribution to the Stamp Exhibition Nordia ’91.
23.05.1991. International Stamp Exhibition NORDIA ´91, Reykjavik. To the right a fragment of Carta Marina, published by Olaus Magnus (1490-1559) in 1539, showing Iceland. The sheet contains three stamps of each 50 kr., (western, middle and eastern Iceland), and was issued as a contribution to the Stamp Exhibition Nordia ’91.
18.08.1986. Bicentenary of Reykjavik.
To the left a stamp «Reykjavik Pond», 1856, and to the right «Women Washing Clothes in Natural Hot Water Brook». There are two more stamps in this set, but which are not engraved by Slania, and therefore not shown on this page.10.06.1987. Preservation of the Icelandic language. Icelandic Language Promotion – 200. Birthday of Rasmus Kristjan. In the middle a stamp depicting the Danish linguist and philologist Rasmus Rask (1787-1832). Rasmus Rask was for his time a famed scientist, who was vital for linguistic research, and who spoke not less than 22 different languages !!!
For Stamp Day 1986 and 1987 Iceland issued the below souvenir sheets. Each of the sheets contain one stamp of 20,00, 30,00 and 40,00 kr. respectively. The sheets were issued for Stamp Day in the years of issue, and proceeds from the sale were contributed to the Stamp and Postal History Fund. Please note that these sheets are not listed in Stanley Gibbons Simplified, and therefore catalogue numbers are given after Scott. Click on either of the images to see a larger version.
09.10.1986. Stamp Day 1986. Left a drawing of a ford at River Hvita. The drawing was made 1836 by Auguste Mayer from the Travelling Book by Paul Gaimard. Czeslaw Slania tells particularly about this stamp, that one day when he was working on it, his daughter was with him and watched him working on the steel plate. When he stopped to take a break, she took up his burin and imitated the grandmaster by making cuts across the steel plate, which unfortunately destroyed it of course. Slania had to start on the job a second time around. However, he was actually quite grateful this happened as he wasn’t very happy with his depiction in the first attempt. Having gone through once gave him some experience on what was needed to bring out the mood in the scene.
09.10.1987. Stamp Day 1987. Right a drawing of the commercial station Djúpivogur. The drawing was made 1836 by Auguste Mayer from the Travelling Book by Paul Gaimard.
09.10.1988. Stamp Day 1988. A beautiful souvenir sheet, showing a drawing by Auguste Mayer «Farmhouse Núpsstadur í Fljótshverfi» (1836), first published in the Travelling Book by Paul Gaimard.